Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...fact, Sadat by his visit had already split the Arab world, although it remained to be seen how deep and permanent that gap was. As for being in an "impossible position," that phrase was less applicable to Egypt than to the P.L.O., whose panicky leaders last week worried whether they might end up as the losers in the new Middle East diplomatic moves. Although Sadat spoke forthrightly to the Knesset about Palestinian rights to a homeland, never once did he mention the P.L.O.-which Arab leaders, at their 1974 Rabat summit, had designated as the sole legitimate representative ofthe Palestinian...
Responding to sharp Palestinian criticism of his trip, Sadat on his return home shut down the Egyptian Voice of Palestine, a P.L.O. radio station, and expelled 20 Palestinians who had tried to organize demonstrations against his mission. He also arranged for Egypt's majority political group, the Arab Socialist Party, to invite leaders of Palestinian Arabs who live on the West Bank to Cairo for consultations about the resumption of Geneva talks. The invitation pointedly called on the Palestinian people "to differentiate between those who seek peace and those who want to destroy everything...
Privately, P.L.O. leaders conceded that without the united support of other Arab states, Sadat had the advantage. They feared that the Saudis and others might be prepared to jettison the Rabat agreement if a Geneva peace settlement could be worked out allowing some alternative arrangement involving Palestinians other than the P.L.O. One Fatah commander gloomily concluded that Egypt and Israel "have agreed to get rid of us by any means, without at least giving us back part of our land...
...West Bank leaders may also have been a warning to the P.L.O. to soften its anti-Israel stance in the interests of a greater good -a settlement that could lead to a Palestinian entity. Privately, some P.L.O. members thought that if the organization was being neglected by Arab moderates it had only itself to blame. Washington had stated that some gesture of recognition toward Israel could lead to dialogue. Overplaying its hand, the P.L.O. had refused to make any such gesture, thereby losing a golden opportunity to gain wider international recognition...
...discernible impact at the United Nations, that uncertain barometer of the global mood. Egyptian Ambassador Esmat Abdel Meguid walked out during an anti-Sadat diatribe by his Syrian colleague, though he later cast Egypt's vote for a Syrian-inspired resolution condemning Israel's occupation of Arab lands. During the debate he smiled and nodded through a speech by Israel's Chaim Herzog. In his address, Abdel Meguid had said, "Let us have a fifth battle for peace," referring to four previous wars between Israel and the Arabs that left 10,010 Israelis dead...